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settembre 12, 2019 - BOZAR

European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture Mies van der Rohe Award 2019

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Opening Thursday 12 September at 19:00h with debate and première of the short documentary: Hall M, free entrance upon registration.
Exhibition from 13 September until 17 November
BOZAR, Ravensteinstraat 23, Brussels

The results of the 2019 #eumiesaward are presented at BOZAR to spread the knowledge about the best works built in the last two years, a critical look at contemporary European architecture.

On September 12 the exhibition of the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture - Mies van der Rohe Award 2019 inaugurates with a preview, a debate and the screening of a short documentary.

The “EU Mies Award 2019 exhibition” embarks on its tour around Europe with an opening at BOZAR, Brussels on September 12 and will continue to Leuven, Vienna, Wroclaw and Rhine-Westphalia in 2019 and 2020. The exhibition for universities and institutions has already been shown in Kharkiv and Atlanta and will be presented in Nicosia and Nottingham in the next months.

The exhibition in Brussels shows the architectures that Dorte Mandrup, George Arbid, Angelika Fitz, tefan Ghenciulescu, Kamiel Klaasse, María Langarita and Frank McDonald, the jury members, highlighted among the 383 works nominated for the #eumiesaward 2019 after long discussions and a week travelling around Europe. A diverse group that gathers 40 unique stories that are the result of a complex process over a period of time.

The winning and finalist projects are unfolded around a central core surrounded by the shortlisted ones. Through photos, videos, models and texts, multiple travels start: from small works embedded in rural areas to grand public space interventions in urban contexts; from devices that provide luxurious spatial experiences in public housing to experimental projects that go beyond the established regulations; from brand new buildings that trigger activity in old urban fabrics to innovative ways of dealing with pre- existing constructions.

Some of the thoughts that emerged from the jury’s debates appear here as written quotes, inviting us to think about diverse new and old topics. These words are fragments extracted from a collection of texts gathered together in the #eumiesaward catalogue, a complementary tool to interpret a prize that celebrates contemporariness in architecture.

tefan Ghenciulescu, one of the members of the jury said: “there seems to be some general awareness of how the new is mainly a layer added on top of the old...”. Adaptive reuse has been one of the key topics in this year’s selection of works as the documentary “Starting conversations” will present in its première in Brussels. Following this 20-minute film, Christophe Hutin from the winning team, Freek Persyn from 51N4E (Skanderbeg Square) and Gideon Boie, project director of PC Caritas will share their points of view on this topic, moderated by Lisa De Visscher, artistic director of A+ Architecture in Belgium.

THE AWARD

The #eumiesaward is awarded to single architectural works demonstrating excellence in conceptual, social, cultural and technical terms. It raises awareness of quality architecture and its contribution to the well-being of citizens and the sustainable development of European cities, towns and villages.

The EU Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award is a biennial prize highlighting outstanding architectural works built across Europe. Besides the main prize (60,000), the Award also includes the Emerging Architecture Prize (20,000).

Since 2001, the prize has been co-organised by the European Commission and the Fundació Mies van der Rohe every other year. The prize was called the Mies van der Rohe Award from 1988, when it was created, until 1998. It is also referred to in short as the #eumiesaward.

The award ceremony is held in May in the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion in Barcelona, Spain. A catalogue and a travelling exhibition are produced to present the nominated, shortlisted and awarded projects for each prize. An app (EUmiesaward) is also available to view and locate all nominated works from first edition.

PARTNERS

Creative Europe is the European Commission's framework programme for support to the culture and audio-visual sectors. Following on from the previous Culture Programme and MEDIA programme, Creative Europe, with a budget of 1.46 billion (9% higher than its predecessors), supports Europe's cultural and creative sectors. The programme safeguards and promotes European cultural and linguistic diversity, and fosters Europe’s cultural richness; contributes to Europe’s goals for smart, sustainable and inclusive economic growth; helps the cultural and creative sectors to adapt to the digital age and globalisation; opens up new international opportunities, markets and audiences; and builds on the success of the MEDIA Mundus and Culture programmes.

The Fundació Mies van der Rohe was created in 1983 with the aim of reconstructing the German Pavilion that Ludwig Mies van der Rohe built for the 1929 International Exhibition. The reconstruction of the Pavilion was a starting point for a larger project. On the one hand the aim was to share and preserve the material heritage of Mies van der Rohe and, on the other, the Foundation was also commissioned to ensure the immaterial legacy of the architect, promoting his innovative spirit in constant dialogue with the present. It therefore fosters debate and research in the field of architecture and modern urban development. Since 1988 the Foundation has organised, with the support of the European Union, the “European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award”, which over the last 30 years has become the leading reference for architecture.

The Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels, BOZAR, has a longstanding knowledge in fields of architecture and heritage, and has largely promoted European architecture since its creation by architect Victor Horta in the 1920s. Today BOZAR Architecture is well-respected after the organisation of various lectures by international architects, monographic exhibitions, and installations and debates on contemporary urban and social challenges in Europe.